A survey of the factors which affect mining of the lower Mississippian coals in Montgomery County, Virginia

Abstract

"Factors Which Affect Mining of the Lower Mississippian Coals in Montgomery County, Virginia" ie a study ot the Merrimac and Langhorne seams of the Price formation in Montgomery County, Virginia. The main reference used in the review of literature was Bulletin XXV of the Virginia Geolog1cal Survey by Marius R. Campbell. The review of literature discusses geologic formations and structure and the coal as seen in various prospect and mine openinga by Campbell.

The author visited mines during the field investigation and analyzed samples of coal collected at the mines. He discusses past mining operations in Montgomery County and has traced all available mine maps of past mining operations. These are filed as part of the thesis. Core drillings were also investigated by the author and reported depths of the coal in the Blacksburg syncline ere entered in Table III and Figure I. An investigation was also made into mining methods used in Montgomery County including a discussion of explosive gases encountered in mining the Merrimac seam.

The author discusses the results of the investigation in the conclusions. Be ia convinced the coals of the Valley fields, although of poor quality, will becane increasingly valuable as anthracite deposit in Pennsylvania and bituminous deposits in Southern West Virginia and southwest Virginia are depleted.